Evidence: False allegations are less common than previously thought (Picture: File)

False accusations of rape and domestic violence are ‘extremely rare’, the director of public prosecutions Keir Starmer has claimed.

There are just a small number of cases – equal to about three a month – where there is enough evidence of perverting the course of justice and wasting police time and it is considered in the public interest to prosecute, a report has found.

Mr Starmer was commenting on evidence the Crown Prosecution Service has gathered after looking into cases of wrongful allegations over 17 months. Part of a wider programme to improve the CPS’s handling of cases involving violence against women and girls, it is the first report of its kind.

Mr Starmer said: ‘In recent years we have worked hard to dispel the damaging myths and stereotypes that are associated with these cases. One such misplaced belief is that false allegations of rape and domestic violence are rife. This report presents a more accurate picture.

‘Where false allegations of rape and domestic violence do occur however, they are serious – reputations can be ruined and lives can be devastated as a result. Such cases will be dealt with robustly and those falsely accused should feel confident that the criminal justice system will prosecute these cases wherever there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to do so.’

The study looked at 5,651 prosecutions for rape between January 2011 and May last year but just 35 for making false allegations of rape.

There were also 111,891 prosecutions for domestic violence but just six for making false allegations.

A further three people were charged with making false allegations of both rape and domestic violence.

A significant number of these cases involved ‘young, often vulnerable people, and sometimes even children’, the study found.

About half were brought forward by people aged 21 and under, with some involving people with mental health difficulties.

‘From the cases we have analysed, the indication is that it is therefore extremely rare that a suspect deliberately makes a false allegation of rape or domestic violence purely out of malice,’ Mr Starmer added.

‘It is within this context that the issue should be viewed, so that myths and stereotypes around these cases are not able to take hold.’

The report’s publication comes after Mr Starmer last week announced radical measures in the way the criminal justice system tackles child sexual abuse to prevent ‘another [Jimmy] Savile moment in five or ten years’ time’.

Mr Starmer said he hoped the figures would help counter any ‘over-cautious’ approach to allegations, especially in the light of the Jimmy Savile scandal.

‘There’s an understandable concern by both investigators and prosecutors that false allegations may be out there and that may lead to an overcautious approach to the way that we deal with these cases,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

‘Because a false allegation of rape is so devastating, understandably people are cautious when an allegation is made.’